Pune Strykers draw with Chennai;remain unbeaten

Pune Strykers continued with their undefeated streak as they pulled back a late goal in the 64th minute against Chennai Cheetahs, drawing the match 3-3, in an evenly contested match at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium,Chennai,on Friday.

Adam Sinclair (1st min) and Syed Imran Warsi (30th and 44th) scored for Chennai Cheetahs. For Pune Strykers, the goal scorers were Roshan Minz (5th), Bikash Toppo (35th) and Simrandeep Randhawa (64th).

The Cheetahs stuck early in the match (1st minute) when Adam Sinclair scored a stunning goal as he was set-up at the goalmouth.

Pune Strykers were fast to pull off the equalizer in the 5th minute when Bikash Toppo stole the ball from the Cheetahs, passed it to Roshan Minz. Minz scored off a reverse flick from the top of Cheetahs’ circle.

The Strykers dominated the proceedings in the first quarter with their ball possession going up to 66% at one time. Chennai Cheetahs slowly picked up the pace in the second quarter and took a 2-1 lead in the 30th minute when Syed Imran Warsi’s accurate and powerful flick went zooming past Pune custodian Gurpreet Singh, barely missing his palms.

Not taking it easy, Pune Strykers scored a field goal to draw parity in the 35th minute.The Argentine Mario Almada, who set up a number of moves in the match for the Pune Strykers, gave a short pass from the right to Bikash Toppo on the Cheetahs’ goalmouth. Toppo did the rest to take his team 2-2 into the half time.

In the second half, Chennai Cheetahs upped their attacks as Pune Strykers fared well in saving a number of Cheetahs’ onslaught. In the 38th minute, Tyron Pereira saved a fast flick off a penalty corner deflecting it at the goalkeeper.

However, in the 44th minute, Cheetahs went up 3-2 on a penalty corner, when a rising flick by Syed Imran Warsi found the top of the Strykers’ nets.

A couple of hit-ins from Mario Almada in the third quarter for the Strykers went un-deflected.

The alert Cheetahs also denied the Strykers any space in their circle to score on deflections. A quick hit from the 25-yard line by the Strykers was well anticipated by the Cheetahs goalkeeper Jasbir Singh. He ran up, deflected it not giving a chance to Strykers forward who stood behind him, near the goal bars, waiting for the deflection.

Trailing by a goal, Pune Strykers earned a penalty corner in the 61st minute desperately looking for the equalizer but Gurpreet’s flick was brilliantly blocked by Chennai’s goalkeeper Jasbir Singh.

However, in the 64th minute, the Strykers deceived the Cheetah when Simrandeep Randhawa stood next to drag-flicker Gurpreet, on the penalty corner, and took the flick instead. He low flick found the target and Strykers made it 3-3.

Few minutes later, Strykers’ Vikas Pillay almost scored the winner goal but his hit got deflected off the goal post’s vertical bar, moved along the goal line and missed the cage.

Pune Strykers now stand at the top of the points table with 9 points with Mumbai Marines standing second with as many points but low on goal difference. Chennai Cheetahs stand 5th in the pool table now.

Chennai Cheetahs build-up and domination in the game was evident from the fact that they were 34% on ball possession in the 10th minute and had 60% possession at the end of the match.